Italian scientists in Sardinia have identified one of the genes responsible for male-pattern baldness.
Mario Pirastu and his team at the Scientific Park of Pula discovered the hereditary hair loss gene after examining a sample of 1,000 men from among the 7,000 who volunteered for the study.
The volunteers all came from the province of Ogliastra in central Sardinia, an area whose genetic pool is practically 'pure' after centuries of isolation.
The results of the study will be published shortly in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Italian researchers often carry out genetic studies in Sardinia because of the particularly uniform gene pool and last month identified the second human 'height gene' known to science.
